P.O. Box 187 Bynum NC 27228 (919) 542-5790
April 2, 2015
Mr. Craig Brown
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Office
3331 Heritage Trade Drive, Suite 105
Wake Forest, NC 27587
Dear Mr. Brown:
The Haw River Assembly is a non-profit organization that has been working since 1982. to protect the Haw River and Jordan Lake in the Upper Cape Fear basin and to safeguard water quality for the communities that live in this watershed.
We wish to comment on the application from Green Meadows, LLC seeking Department of the Army authorization to discharge fill material into 1.14 acres of jurisdictional headwater and riparian wetlands, 4,166 linear feet of jurisdictional intermittent and perennial streams, along with 0.50 acre of isolated wetlands non-jurisdictional wetlands, associated with coal ash repositories to be located at the Brickhaven and Sanford (Colon) Mines in Chatham and Lee Counties, North Carolina.
A portion of the 301 acre permitted area of the Brickhaven Mine site, located off Moncure-Flatwood Road, drains to Shaddox Creek, a tributary of the Haw River, and the site is near Haw River Assembly members living in the southeast Chatham County Moncure and Brickhaven communities.We have many questions and concerns about negative impacts that both of these proposed coal ash repositories could have on surface and groundwater, public health and safety, and destruction of wildlife and the environment. We do not believe the cumulative impacts of the coal ash on downstream waters has been sufficiently looked at. Downstream from both these clay mine sites, the Cape Fear River is used as a drinking water source for many municipalities, and is also habitat for the federally listed endangered species, the Cape Fear shiner, and other threatened species and species of concern.
We are asking at this time that a public hearing be held on this 404 permit so that the public has the opportunity to discuss openly the many concerns they have.
Among our many concerns and questions are the following:
Groundwater contamination: It is a fact that all liners will eventually degrade and leak, and some much sooner, due to improper installation or breaches. The applicant states in the draft 404 permit that "The proposed HDPE liner is designed to industry standards and has an expected life of 500+ years". However, the December 16, 2014 letter from David Cox,NC Wildlife Resources Commission to NC Land Quality Section concerning the Green Meadows mining permit gives a very different picture of the durability and risks of these liners, "...the liners have an estimated safe life of 80 to 100 years if no mechanical stress is induced (Reddy, 1999). If either of these occurs, aquatic and terrestrialwildlife resources can be exposed to coal combustion products or its constituents through direct contact with contaminated soil or surface water, or through ingestion of contaminated plants, soils, or aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates."And what about human exposure to contamination? Is there a plan for baseline monitoring of neighbors' drinking water wells in an area surrounding the mine site? Both the Brickhaven and Colon Rd. clay pits are within the Deep River shale basin, with its very fractured underlying geology including diabase dikes. Has there been consideration of what the impacts of fracking in the area could mean to longterm stability of these coal ash repositories and cumulative impacts on water quality?
Impacts on Surface waters:
The 404 permit would allow impacts and destruction to 2662 linear feet of stream and .45 acres of wetlands in the Brickhaven site alone. Mitigation in form of payment to a fund for stream restoration elsewhere will not mitigate the damage being done to these streams, and the habitat that relies on them.
Three miles of Gulf Creek, downstream from the Brickhaven clay pit, has been on the EPA's 303(d) impaired waters list since 1998 and 2000, down to the confluence with the Cape Fear River. A tributary of Gulf Creek flows through the Brickhaven clay mining site where coal ash would be brought The current 2014 listing shows that Gulf Creek is exceeding fresh water quality standards due to "Poor Fish Community" and "Narrative Standard" (2014 NC 303(d) List -Category 5 Final December 19, 2014, page 16). Given that Gulf Creek constantly runs the color of the clay mining site it is draining, we assume this means the turbidity narrative standard for sediment is being exceeded (photo at right, taken by HRA in January 25, 2015).
We are very concerned that some of the coal ash that will be encapsulated at the Brickhaven site (as well as at the Sanford site) will eventually end up downstream into the Cape Fear River adding to the current sediment load and coal ash wastewater from the Moncure Coal Plant ash storage ponds. The stormwater retention systems,berm heights and sediment ponds are all based on engineering designs that assume weather patterns based on the past. We face a very unknown future due to climate change, and the likelihood of more frequent and severe storms should be considered for these plans. Failure or overtopping of the bermsor breaching of the containment of the coal ash could lead to massive pollution of the Cape Fear River. The 8 million tons of ash planned for internment at this site will be in addition to the millions of tons of coal ash currently sitting in ponds next to the Moncure Coal Ash plant less than 2 miles away. If a hurricane or other major storm were to damage or destroy the berms and other containment at both sites,it would have a devastating impact to the Cape Fear River and the downstream water users. Downstream water systems who take their source water from the Cape Fear River include Sanford, Harnett County (which supplies Lillington, Angier, Ft. Bragg, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina), Dunn, Fayetteville, and Brunswick County (including Wilmington).
Air Pollution:
We have seenestimatesthat moving 8 million tons of coal ash to the Brickhavensite could require 400,000 truckloads or 120,000 train car loads. The transport of this huge amount of coal ash will most certainly mean measurable amounts of coal ash residue along roadsides and in yards, and which could become a significant air pollutant to those living along the transport routes. Will transport vehicles be required to have closed and covered containers? Who will monitor and regulate this? Who will monitor air quality to ensure public safety?
Wildlife and Environmental Concerns:
Outside of the mined areas at the Brickhaven site, there are mixed pine/hardwood forests and oak hickory streams and wetlands, as well as abandoned sediment basins that have become wetland habitat. The permit application by Green Meadows LLC shows that large excavations would be made beyond the current mined areas, destroying considerable wildlife habitat. Among the concerns in the December 16, 2014 letterfrom NC Wildlife Resources Commission was the need for greater stream buffers; water monitoring for additional constituents (aluminum, boron and mercury),longer post closure care of the site; dust control; and questions about types of chemicals that might be used onsite for dust suppressants and sediment control flocculants that could be toxic to fish and wildlife.
We also believe the issue of whether these two clay mine areas at Brickhaven and Sanford (Colon) will be "mine reclamation" as claimed by Green Meadows, or are actually coal ash landfills, needs to be resolved. The proposed excavation of currently un-mined land; the proposed finished height of the encapsulated coal ash at above grade of the surrounding land; and the prohibition of mechanical stress on top of the finished "reclamation" in order to preserve the integrity of the coal ash liners, would make these areas unsuitable for any developmentThis is a coal ash landfill and should bepermitted and regulated as that, and new EPA guidelines should be in play. We do not believe US ACE should issue a 404 permit until this issue is resolved.
Endangered Species:
We believe that the proposed project may impact federally listed endangered or threatened species or their formally designated critical habitat, and that the Corps should initiate consultation under Section 7 of the ESA and not make a permit decision until the consultation process is complete.
In the December 16, 2014 letter referenced above, the Division of Wildlife Resources discussed terrestrial and aquatic species that could be impacted from the Brickhaven site. Tributaries of Shaddox Creek drain this site, and flow into the Haw River just before it's confluence with the Cape Fear River. Tributaries of Gulf Creek also flow into the nearby Cape Fear River, habitat for recorded populations of the federal and state endangered Cape Fear Shiner, as well as federal species of concern and state threatened yellow lampmussel, Carolina redhorse, Roanoke slabshell, and other state and federal species of concern. The Cape Fear/McKay Island Natural Heritage area is just downstream of the Brickhaven site just above the confluence of Gulf Creek and the Cape Fear River. To say that these species will not be impacted because they are not within the project site is incorrect, since waters from thesetributaries -and any pollutionthey carry- will flow into the Cape Fear River and into the critical habitat for the species listed above.
Disposal of leachate:
Coal ash leachate is likely to contain high levels of heavy metals including arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, selenium, aluminum, antimony, barium, beryllium, boron, bromide, chlorine, cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, thallium, vanadium, and zinc. Some coal ash also contains radioactive materials. Despite collection of leachate, some will eventually reach groundwater as the liners disintegrate over time. The leachate that is collected will need to be taken to a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The heavy metals and other constituents of coal ash leachate can interfere with the wastewater treatment plant, and create new problems and costs that are borne by those municipalities. Among these pollutants are the bromides from the coal plant scrubber, which can become a constituent of the fly ash "The lack of regulations for bromides can be a problem, said Tom Boyd, a senior environmental specialist at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Boyd, who works with drinking-water plants in northwest North Carolina, said coal plants send their scrubber waste to wastewater treatment systems, but that those systems often fail to remove the bromide. “Sadly, it’s passing through into the waters of the state,” he said. Boyd, like Hoffmann, noted that North Carolina does not control bromide releases into streams or rivers. “It’s a non-regulated chemical,” he said.( /) The Cape Fear River already has highly elevated levels of bromide.
Cumulative Impact:
Given the very real chance that there will be contamination of both surface waters and groundwaters from these proposed coal ash repositories, the pollution that would flow downstream into the Cape Fear River would be in addition to the current coal ash wastewater seepage into the Cape Fear River from the ash ponds at the Duke Energy Moncure Coal Ash plant in this same stretch of river. Gulf Creek is already on the EPA 303(d) list and would be further degraded by any increased sedimentation from excavation and construction at the Brickhaven clay pits, as well as any coal ash pollution.
In summary, we request a public hearing be held on this 404 permit, and that the permit should not be issued until all concerns and questions have been adequately addressed.
Sincerely,
Elaine Chiosso,
Haw Riverkeeper